


Naxian Wine

by baranduin



Category: Mask of Apollo - Renault
Genre: M/M, Yuletide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-01-16
Updated: 2010-01-16
Packaged: 2017-10-06 08:44:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/51793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baranduin/pseuds/baranduin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>hettalos misses Niko on his first tour away from Niko.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Naxian Wine

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> Thanks to Trianne for beta reading. Written for 2004 Yuletide.

~ Naxos ~

Niko, dearest of friends, most beloved of teachers, most blessed by the god. Nikeratos of Athens, Thettalos greets you with love and respect.

Oh, very well. Yes, I am more than a little drunk, but I think I can be forgiven considering the quality of Naxian wine. Having been here for some days now, I well understand why Dionysus cherished his youth on this island and am grateful that he blessed its vineyards.

I can see you shaking your head as you read this (if you can make any of it out, that is, I know my skills in the handwriting arts have never been great ... and of course there is the matter of the wine). I expect you're chewing on the inside of your cheek a bit and tilting your head to one side the way you do when you're meditating some lecture you think I need to hear for the improvement of my character.

But yes, I've been to a dinner party this past evening and drunk my share of wine, though I was not asked to oversee its mixing. Probably a good thing, too, for it was good wine, meant to be savored in a carefully balanced mixture rather than what I would have commanded had I been given the power. The company was good as well, thanks to Miron. That happens everywhere we go; you were right, he is well-liked and has many friends who are eager to offer their hospitality.

But it was the talk that made me come back to my room at the inn and hunt up a piece of parchment so I could write to you. And I'll need to be quick about it because there's a ship leaving for Athens at day break and I want this letter to be on it.

Oh, I do miss you terribly. I'm just now coming around (partially) to your way of thinking about our not always working together, though I'll never be completely convinced it is a good thing. But I cannot deny that I've had good times during the tour so far and learned a great deal. I've seen interesting people and places. I've had good roles; Miron has more than honored my contract on that account.

But it's times like last night's dinner party that make me realize how much I've given up by agreeing to your plan.

You see, Plato's Symposium was talked about last night after the dinner was finished. The wine was measured out (I would have mixed in less water but it was not for me to say) and our garlands were about our heads. Our host even had a copy of the text to pass around.

It was just as well that he did as it gave me a graceful alternative to making my own speech. When my turn came, I was able to say, "Gentlemen, I am not learned in philosophy. Would you allow me to read a bit instead?"

So I gave them some of Diotima's part. You know, where she talks about love being the intermediary between that which is mortal and that which is immortal. I do love that part.

It's not that I could not have discussed the work in my own words. You've seen to my education too well for me to plead complete ignorance. And the god who watches over and directs our lives knows well that I don't normally shirk the chance to take center stage. After all, he has seen to it that it is my course in this world to do so.

But I did not want to give them my own words about the Symposium, though that is nothing against them for they seemed good, honest people to me. It is just that some things are too precious to share out indiscriminately, are they not?

Oh, Niko.

Do you remember the night we first read the Symposium together? We held our own dinner party that night, just the two of us in our house by the river. We even made our own garlands, wandering hand in hand in the garden before choosing from the green and growing vines. I wove yours, and you wove mine; we laughed as we did so, already drunk though we'd not had even a drop of wine so far that day.

"Come, let me read to you," you said to me that night. "I have spoken to you of Plato and his teachings; let me share some of his wisdom with you now. You will like it." I did like it and still do though there are things I like even more and I'm not ashamed to own it.

It makes me laugh a little--in a way that warms my heart--to remember back on that night. I think it was your intention that I remain studiously reclining on my own couch, but really, Niko, it worked out much better--more educational--for me to share yours, did it not? That way you didn't have to strain your voice as you read out bits and pieces in between explanations.

"Thettalos, please. This concept is important for you to understand."

Did you really think I wouldn't interrupt you with the occasional kiss? After all, we hadn't been lovers for very long. And of course everything was new to me.

I don't even remember what it was now that was so important. Do you? I suppose it had something to do with our higher selves and rising above the merely carnal.

Well, we rose to something soon after that, didn't we?

Have you ever considered that we should have had wider couches? In the end, there wasn't room for both our bodies and for that blasted scroll, and so down it tumbled in a spiraling wave onto the floor. But by that time, you had given up your objections to my less than spiritual interruptions and I don't think you even noticed it had fallen. And a few minutes after that (for I remember the sound of it falling) our tunics joined it and then there were just our two very carnal bodies twining in and around each other, just as our garlands clung to our brows while we loved each other.

It is getting light. My room overlooks the harbor and I've opened the window. The shouts of the sailors are drifting up to me, along with the rush and slap of the salt waves. So I shall end this now and send it to you with my love, all of my love--my basest and my highest, that which proceeds from my body to yours and from my soul to yours. I leave it to you to decide which part is the finest.

Fare well. May the god grant the ship a fair wind and speed this letter safely to you.

Thettalos


End file.
